1930 OM 28 comes home to roost

[TomB'sox]

Great review and I am glad the guitar found the perfect home for its next 60 years.

I think the wife and kids, once they faint, their O2 requirements go down so that should give you at least an extra minute or two to make sure the SUV is locked up and to find the neighbor who you can trust to watch the car while you go back in, especially if you know where they fainted, that will save time.

[CoolerKing]

Good point, thanks! _

[theEdwinson]

Matthew, congratulations on your acquisition of this venerable old Martin. Now a whole new chapter in its storied history will be written with you!

I recall reading an article in Acoustic Guitar Magazine (?) a decade or so ago, about the genesis of the Martin OM. If I recall correctly, this new guitar was designed at the behest of Perry Bechtel, who was a famous guitar player back in the early 20th century. He liked to play the entire fingerboard, and found the 12-frets-to-body configuration kind of cramped and limiting. Martin said they would build a guitar to his specifications, hoping for a high profile endorsement, and Bechtel took them up on it.

The article depicted Bechtel as an incorrigible narcissist, a very particular, nitpicky, and demanding customer- a real pain in the tuckus to deal with. Bechtel wanted a medium-sized guitar, with fourteen frets-to-body so he could play up the neck; and it still had to sound like a 12-fret. In their correspondence back and forth, the Martin rep who was in charge at the time displayed saintly patience in dealing with Bechtel's often conflicting demands. They had to build three (?) guitars for Bechtel, before he would be even slightly satisfied with the third attempt.

So, the very conservative, traditional Martin company created this innovative new OM guitar design, which became the first "modern" steel string acoustic.

If I recall correctly, the article concluded saying Bechtel, who apparently could NEVER really be pleased by anything, abandoned his Martin 14-fret OM shortly after taking ownership of it, with some salty, negative comments about the Martin company issued as parting shots.

So maybe Perry Bechtel was a handful of thorns to Martin, but thanks to his intransigent nature, he left the rest of us with a handful of roses, in one of the most revered guitar designs in History.

Enjoy your new old guitar, Matthew- you've earned it!

[Guitars44me]

Wasn't PB a Banjo player who switched to guitar?

If so, No wonder he wanted more frets!

How can you tell it is a Banjo player knocking on your door?

He can't find the key, the knocking speeds up, and he doesn't know when to come in!



Enjoy this axe. And have fun

Paul

[Parlorman]

Congratulations Matthew. That’s a lovely instrument. I was fortunate to have one of the 1929 OM28 prototypes and they really are special. Enjoy!

[jmat]

Originally Posted by SJ VanSandt

Whoa! That's an interesting piece of music your instructor is using to demo your guitar! Impressive chops! The guitar sounds wonderful and your story is too - congratulations on finding this treasure!

Agreed, I liked that piece as well.

Congratulations Matthew!

[CoolerKing]

Originally Posted by jmat

Agreed, I liked that piece as well.

Congratulations Matthew!

I'll bring that to this Thanksgiving if I can!

Plus, I was remiss in throwing this guy an 80th bday party back on Feb 11th. We were occupied by 'rona.